A dog feeds on a dead turtle on a beach near Paradip. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Dec. 28: The beaches in and around the port town have almost turned into graveyards for Olive Ridley sea turtles as hundreds of decomposed bodies of these marine animals were spotted littered along the shoreline.

The sighting of the carcasses over the past 24 hours has made the forest personnel jittery. This is a disturbing phenomenon before the onset of arribada, the mass egg-laying ritual of the turtles.

“The department has received reports of the turtles carcasses being washed ashore in and around Paradip. It’s taking up steps on a war footing to arrest the mortality rate,” said officer of the Rajnagar Mangrove Forest (wildlife) division Kedra Kumar Swain.

“The mortality rate is not at all alarming. We have received official reports of 78 turtle deaths. Still, we are crosschecking the facts on the alleged sighting of turtle carcasses,” he said.

“It’s a horrific sight. The carcasses are strewn along the beach. They started washing up around four days ago and more and more bodies are accumulating with each passing day. The number of deaths could increase in the coming days unless illegal trawling activities are curbed,” said environment activist Sankhanad Behera.

He said stray dogs were now eating the carcasses and some of these dead animals being washed up had deep injury marks on them.

“The stench is putting off tourists,” said hotel owner Rama Chandra Sutar.

Wildlife activists blame fishing trawlers for the sorry state of affairs. They say that when the turtles get entangled in fishing trawlers and gill nets, the fishermen kill them with hammer blows to keep their costly nets intact. After the animal is killed, the carcass is thrown into the sea.